Two counselors from a Girl Scouts camp asked me about instructional materials for kids. Which materials that are available work well for preparing kids from about age 8 to about age 15?

crazychemical

27th February 2007, 11:38 PM

Sb start, mistral N-trance and the Mistral Prodigy are the most commonly used introduction boards. Of thise the N-trance is the one with the biggest evolutionairy capacety. Sb Go isn&#39;t too bad eighter (the larger volumes) but these focus more on progressing then introduction.
Mistral and Gaastra also offer a range of beginner sails. So does fanatic if i recall. Neilpryde launched the &#39;one&#39; sails and rigs this season.

Hope it helps.

Roger

28th February 2007, 10:24 AM

Hi Del,
US Sailing and US Windsurfing may have some text books on windsurfing, but other than small pamphlets I don&#39;t know of anything specific to kids.
Starboard has some video&#39;s and DVD&#39;s. US Windsurfing has the Beth Powell "Simulator Drills" DVD. US Sailing may have a similar DVD done by Calema.
I&#39;ll check around and see what else I can come with.
Hope this helps,

Del Carpenter

28th February 2007, 10:55 AM

Thank you for responding, Crazychemical. I realize using the word, "materials" didn&#39;t clearly show I was looking for things like video&#39;s, DVDs or written items.

Thank you, Roger. I can see a marketing need for materials to teach kids how to windsurf and for materials that teach instructors how to teach kids.

Are you going to market your mast track extender?

crazychemical

28th February 2007, 08:02 PM

yeah, i was wondering .... i mean,n u own a lot, even a start, so i thoguht u were just seeing whatbelse is on the market. Anyhow, we&#39;re all trying to help i spose. Have fun with them scouts :)

Roger

28th February 2007, 08:29 PM

Hi Del,
No, I have no plans to market the "auxiliary mast track".
I built that device just to prove to myself (and hopefully the design
team at Starboard) that the position of the mast foot, with sails < 2.0 m2, as indeed the problem with the smaller kids staying upwind.
I&#39;d be glad to have someone else manufacture and market it.
I and provide some elemantary drawings, and a list of materials fairly easily.
Are your Girl Scout leaders trying to put together a windsurfing program for the Girl Scout organization, or just for their local Girl Scout Troops?
I&#39;d be happy to work with them to obtain the DVD&#39;s and other materials and put together a program that works for the young women in the GS organization. I believe they still earn "merit badges" for different sports and projects and there&#39;s no reason that windsurfing cannot be one of those "merit badge" sports.
We could easily put together a program with the basics, as well as a look at some more advanced skills (like freestyle) so the girls could learn the basics and then have some room to "advance their skills" to higher levels.
Hope this helps,

Del Carpenter

1st March 2007, 01:03 PM

Roger, I will ask about windsurfing merit badges for Girl Scouts. The two counselors I talked to are college students who work during the summer at Camp Tanglefoot, a Girl Scout camp, with a few old windsurfers such as an O&#39;Brien Excellerator. The campers come from quite a few different local Girl Scout troops, during the summer they have a staff of about 30 counselors or instructors.

Camp Tanglefoot is on Clear Lake at the town of Clear Lake IA, about 2.5 to 3 interestate hours ESE from Worthington MN (where I hope to see you again this year). I checked their website, in 2006 they opened 6-12-06, the Monday after the Worthington Regatta. The website says they serve about 3,000 campers with a staff of 30, so I&#39;d guess they have at least 300 campers each week. Sailing is one of the activities they advertise.

When I started this thread I was dense and not thinking about the possibility that you might be able to fit them in on your Taste of Windsurfing Tour. My only contact so far was a few minutes with the two counselors who are local college students who saw me snowsailing with my modified tobaggon and recognized the sail as a windsurfing sail. I googled Girl Scout Camps in Iowa to find the Camp Tanglefoot name. Send an email to me directly, delcarpenter@cfu.net and I can give you the email address I have for one of the counselors. They should know who to contact at Tanglefoot. Let me know what I can do to help. I can contact the camp and the North Iowa Girl Scout Council if you think the first contact should come from someone more local. Clear Lake is about 90 interestate minutes from where I live. A successful windsurfing program at that camp would definitely mean more windsurfers in my area.